


A Different Game

by mrsfizzle



Category: Smallville
Genre: Cute, Feel-good, Friendship, Gen, Good Person Lex Luthor, Good Sibling Lex Luthor, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Protective Siblings, mentorfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24427159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsfizzle/pseuds/mrsfizzle
Summary: Lex knows the Talon is a bad investment, but it's an opportunity to be a part of something honest and pure, and somehow he just can't bring himself to turn down Lana's renovation proposal. He'll have to break the news to her eventually, but in the meantime, he's going to do whatever it takes to stand by her efforts. Somewhere between mentorfic and sibling fic. No romance.
Relationships: Lana Lang & Lex Luthor
Comments: 18
Kudos: 14





	1. Rising to the Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> This story is quite compatible with the If She Looked Over universe, although there is absolutely no need to have read that story to understand this one. I'm hesitant to say it's part of ISLO, because it is irrelevant to the central conflicts and interactions that story, but in my mind, it definitely takes place in the same world. This will be much shorter, however, totaling out around 5-6 chapters.
> 
> I always thought Kreuk and Rosenbaum (Lana and Lex) were adorable together, but I liked them more before they were romantically involved. As such, this story is strictly platonic.
> 
> This chapter contains direct quotes from 1x13, Kinetic. I own nothing.

Lex arrived at the old Talon building a few minutes before he said he would. With the break-ins at the mansion, he was looking at an overwhelming week, but he'd made a promise to Lana to hear her out.

He had a guess as to what she was going to ask about. She'd grown up helping out in the flower shop that was attached to the Talon; she probably wanted to know what he was planning to do with it. Normally, Lex would never even think of entertaining such a meeting, but in the past few months, Clark had become his best friend. Almost like a brother to him. Clark spent half his time with Lex going on about Lana.

She was a sweet girl. She wasn't necessarily the brightest—she was dating an idiot football player who had crucified Clark—but Lex didn't want to blow her off. If she and Clark did end up together, which Lex was hoping would happen for everyone's sake, and if he and Clark continued to grow in their friendship, she might be like a sister-in-law to him someday.

Lana met him in the open space above the Talon. "Hi, Mr. Luthor." She smiled brightly.

"It's Lex. Please." He was pretty sure he was less than seven years older than her.

"Okay. Lex."

"Nell said you wanted to meet with me?"

Lana nodded. "She told me she was selling the Talon, and said you were the new buyer. I was just wondering . . ."

"You want to know what I'm going to do with the building." He began to walk down the stairs.

She nodded, and followed him. "This theater means something to a lot of people. I spent every Saturday of my childhood here, eighth row center. When the lights went down and the screen flickered to life, the problems outside these doors just disappeared." She came around in front of him and looked him in the eyes, her smile deepening her dimples. "It was like being transported to a magical place."

Despite his father having ingrained in him that sentimentality was weakness, he could recognize it when he heard it. "That's a nice story. But why is it so important to you, really?"

She sighed, looking defeated at having been called out. "My parents met here. I guess I'm just looking for something to hold onto."

Somewhere deep inside, Lex felt for her. He knew what it was like to live without parents—he'd lost his father's love at around the same time as his mother's life. He thought of the watch his mother had given him. He'd have sooner given up every valuable item in the mansion than to lose it, and there wasn't much he wouldn't have tried to protect it.

But renovating the Talon meant trying to revive a business that had died long ago. Starting a new business was difficult enough. He knew how to do it, but it would take a lot of time and energy. Time and energy he just didn't have.

He considered letting her down gently, but didn't want to risk giving her the wrong idea. In his experience, directness was the best option in business. And she had asked a business question. "So I'm supposed to preserve this monument to Lana Lang's sentimental memories?"

"That's not what I meant."

"You're a teenager, Lana. Mercurial doesn't do you justice."

"I thought you might understand. Clearly, I was mistaken."

"This is business, Lana. All these storefronts are becoming professional office space. This town needs a parking garage." That was going to be painful for her to hear, but it was better she heard it from him than find out later. Besides, Clark was always quoting her as being frustrated that people felt like she was too weak to handle the truth. He had no intention of insulting her by walking on eggshells.

She was clearly livid. "So you're going ahead with your plans?"

"You haven't given me any reason to change my mind. If you'll excuse me, I have a pressing matter to attend to." He knew that part would sound harsh to her, but it was the truth. This week's blackmailers had been especially hostile.

With that, Lex left the Talon. If Lana picked up on his hints, she might come back and talk to him again with a more convincing argument.

He highly doubted he'd hear back.

* * *

Lex's rejection was only the icing on the cake of a very frustrating day for Lana. Between Chloe's accident and Whitney's withdrawal from her, she had her hands full as it was.

But Clark said he would help with Whitney, which freed up some time for Lana to worry about the Talon. After she'd had time to cool off from her conversation with Lex, she was more upset with herself than she was with him. He ran the Smallville plant, which she was pretty sure had hundreds of employees. He couldn't hold a job like that by giving into sentimental pleas. She had to give him a business reason to change his plans.

Clark also suggested that Lex might not have actually been rejecting her. He said Lex liked to challenge people. So maybe, if she actually did give him a business reason, he would be willing to work with her.

She sat in the old abandoned building until late at night, sketching the Talon while she tried to think of ideas, remembering how it used to be. Her earliest memory was falling asleep in the theater halfway through _The Land Before Time_ , seated between her parents, her head on her mother's arm. Years later, Nell told her the story of how her parents had met at the Talon.

Lana had no idea what it would cost to repair, or update, the screen and projector. She guessed it would be a lot, which meant that she could never get Lex to go for it.

She'd picked up a couple of books from the library on small town revivals. What she read was actually pretty encouraging. If she was willing to compromise—keep the Talon running as a different type of business, like a restaurant—she might be able to keep the place open for long enough to buy her some time. Someday, it might make enough of a profit to be restored entirely, but even if it didn't, it was better than the Talon being flattened and turned into a parking garage.

Lana worked until late into the night taking notes on the books, then spent every minute she could spare the next day on the computer in the Torch—she asked Chloe if it was okay, and Chloe didn't mind, seeing as she was in the hospital.

She set the project aside when Whitney came to her for help, and she put his wellbeing first, but as soon as she was sure he was going to be okay, she returned to her work on her proposal.

She talked about her ideas with Nell, and practiced her pitch a few times before asking Nell to call Lex again. The thought of meeting with him a second time made her heart pound. A second rejection promised to be much more painful and embarrassing than a first. But it was worth it for a chance at keeping the Talon alive.

* * *

Lex sat alone in the empty Talon, once again a few minutes early for his meeting with Lana Lang. And once again, he'd almost told her he couldn't meet. But something about the way Lana sounded on the phone had given him pause, made him wonder if she had something new to say. Maybe it was the fact that Lana had called directly rather than having her aunt set up the meeting.

Still, he'd shut her down pretty firmly the first time. He'd used a gentler voice than he would have with a fellow businessman, but he knew his words were blunt. She was trembling a little as she entered the Talon and came to face him, a red folder under her arm.

"Thanks for coming," she said.

"I was surprised by your call. After our last meeting, I didn't think I'd hear from you again."

"This time, I came prepared." She took a packet out of the folder and handed it to him.

The top page was a hand sketch of the old Talon building. She'd even signed it.

 _Oh no_. Apparently he hadn't shut her down hard enough. She'd returned with more sentiment. "What's this?"

"My business proposal." Her voice shook as she spoke. "Small towns across the country have revived their old downtowns, returning them to the social centers they once were. They didn't do this by building cookie-cutter malls or parking garages. They did it by restoring the great old buildings that were already there, turning them into cafes, bookstores, and restaurants."

This, he hadn't exactly expected. He'd expected a petition with a few signatures, or a hopelessly optimistic calculation of what it would cost to revive a movie theater as compared to expected profits. It caught him a little off-guard. "You want to turn the Talon into a cafe-bookstore?"

"It could also be a venue for local bands and art-house movies."

He kept flipping through the proposal, but he really didn't have to. It only took a cursory glance for him to know that she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. There were certain things she had gotten right—in particular, that a cafe would be easier to build and maintain than a theater in their little town—but that was about where it ended.

"If you look on page 12," she went on, "I found out you can register the building as an historic landmark, which gives you certain tax benefits. Just don't ask me to explain them."

Okay, so she wasn't wrong about the tax benefits, either. But she also had no idea how big a business risk a food establishment was, nor how low her chances of success would be. He was pretty sure the portion of Smallville's already-tiny population that actually frequented coffee shops wasn't enough to support both the Beanery and the Talon, which meant one or the other would die.

He wouldn't be able to help with it much, either. His job was already far more than full time. "Who's gonna manage it?"

"Nell said she'd be interested. And I can train with her after school, try running it myself in the summers."

That would have to be quite the training program. Lex had seen firsthand what a disaster her short stint at the Beanery had been.

Lex's hesitation wasn't born out of any belief that Lana was stupid. He was sure she was intelligent enough for a fifteen-year-old. But she was only fifteen, and she really didn't have any understanding of what it took for a business to survive. Most people her age didn't.

Granted, at fifteen, Lex had known. But he also knew that that wasn't normal. He'd been raised on cold deception and vicious competition, while as far as he knew, she'd been raised on pom poms and whipped cream.

But Lana's desperation to hold onto something that connected her to her parents had apparently motivated her to step up. The packet was clearly hours worth of work. "How'd you come up with this?"

"It was something Clark said. He told me you like to challenge people."

Lex appreciated the generous portrayal of himself, especially since it came from Clark. Lana might not have known what she was doing, but the proposal proved she was willing to work quite hard for what she wanted. It wasn't her fault she was inexperienced—she had potential. If Lex guided her in the right direction, there was a chance her plan might even work.

"Well, you've definitely risen to the challenge," he said.

"So it's a deal?"

It would be a risk, and a bit of a time commitment. But Lana was Clark's friend, which made her a good bet, in his book. And this could be interesting. His usual business endeavors were both easier and more cutthroat than this one. It would be a different kind of game than he'd ever played.

 _Oh, why not_. It wasn't a lot of money. "I need to look over everything, but yeah. It's a deal." He walked toward the door as he said it, and he didn't let himself smile. He wasn't doing her a favor or giving her a gift—there was no need to patronize her by smiling.

"Really?"

Lex turned back to face her. "Really. I think this could be the start of a very interesting partnership." He gave her a very slight smile before leaving the Talon.

If worse came to worst, he could still go through with his parking garage plan after the Talon died. It would be a much more uncomfortable conversation then, though. He wondered if he was just procrastinating on giving her bad news. But for now, he didn't care. Her face had been so happy when he agreed to her plans. His words _never_ inspired that kind of joy.

It felt good. And _good_ just wasn't a word that usually applied to him.


	2. The Iron Chrysalis

When Lex was five, his mother took him to a butterfly exhibit.

He was a weak, spoiled whiner at that age, and the fluttering bugs had actually spooked him, but he'd been fascinated by the chrysalises. He and his mother were lucky enough to have come on a day when one of the butterflies was struggling to make its way out of its encasing.

It took a long time. Longer than five-year-old Lex wanted to wait. So he reached down toward it, ready to help it out.

His mother took his hand, pulling it away at the last second. "Just look, don't touch," she said gently.

"But it's scared," he said.

"I know, baby, but it has to make its way out on its own."

"Why?"

"Because this is how it gets strong. If you help it out of its chrysalis, it won't be able to fly."

Years later, Lex would come to recognize this explanation as a horribly cliché analogy that people gave as an excuse when they didn't want to help someone who was struggling. It was also a terribly false equivalence to real life situations. Had the creature been encased in aluminum, Lex was sure his mother would have been the first to help it.

And Lana Lang? Her chrysalis was made of iron. There was no way she was getting out, maybe not even with his help. The Talon was a bad investment, plain and simple.

Sitting at the desk in his study, Lex looked over the spreadsheets of estimates on his laptop once again. If the Talon outlasted the Beanery, it would eventually earn back the initial investment. But it could be weeks or months before the Beanery died, and in the meantime, even the most optimistic figures were bleak.

It was an old building, which meant they'd need to call for plumbing, electrical, and possibly even structural inspections. Even if those inspections revealed no problems at all, it was going to take a lot to bring the Talon from being simply a functional building, to an appealing social gathering place. Lex didn't know what Lana was going to want in terms of decor, but those ceilings were high enough that she'd need equipment to get to them, as well as contractors for the visual renovations, both interior and exterior.

The theater wasn't designed to have a full kitchen, so all of their equipment for baking and coffee making would have to be purchased new. Depending on how much of the food preparation she was thinking of doing in-house, they might have to install new gas lines.

Then there were all the ordinary costs of business: taxes, staffing, the cost of the food and drink itself . . . and advertisements. Not to raise awareness, but to build consumer confidence. As soon as word got out that a Luthor was involved in restoring the Talon, its opening would be common knowledge in Smallville, and that would harm business more than help them.

It wasn't that he couldn't afford the renovations. Of course, he could pour money into the Talon until there was no hope of the profits ever catching up with the initial investment, and even at that, it would never be enough money to make a dent in his trust fund.

But Lex was very careful about throwing around money. Besides, in the end, he knew Lana wouldn't really be okay with that. Despite her desperation, she really wasn't asking for a gift. Her twenty-eight page business proposal proved that.

Lex glanced up at the time on his computer and groaned inwardly. Lana would be here any minute. This was going to be an unpleasant conversation. He closed his laptop and left the study to ask the kitchen staff for some hot chocolate. In his experience, it could help soften the blow.

* * *

Lana arrived in Lex's study at seven sharp on Saturday evening for her first official business meeting with him. She was dressed in a light pink button down shirt and black blazer, armed with a binder and two pens in her lapel pocket. She took deep breaths, reminding herself she was ready for this. She'd spent all day studying, brainstorming, sketching, and jotting notes.

Lex had emailed her a long list of questions to think about before the meeting. The questions had shown her how little she'd really known about starting a business, but after a long day of work, she was pretty sure she knew how to answer all of them.

Lana knew Lex had a bad reputation, though the people in town were pretty inconsistent on whether they disliked him for being a harsh businessman, a spoiled rich kid, or a crook. Some of them just said, "He's a Luthor," like that should explain everything about why they thought he was a terrible person.

But Lex had usually been nice to Lana. True, he didn't like Whitney, and he frequently insisted that she should be dating Clark—always an uncomfortable conversation—but other than that, he seemed to understand her, sometimes better than anyone else. He knew in an instant how much she hated the birthday party her aunt threw for her at his mansion, and he knew during her first pitch about the Talon that she'd been appealing to sentiment rather than reason, long before she admitted it even to herself.

Lex could also keep his cool in a tough situation. He'd saved their whole field trip tour group when they'd been taken hostage. Walked right in and taken off his bullet-proof vest before convincing the gunman to let everyone go. He'd also taken care of Lana and Whitney late one night when Sean Kelvin had caused them to get into a car accident, calling on his security team to protect the mansion while they warmed up by his fireplace.

He would be a tough partner in business. He wouldn't treat her like she was weak: he'd be completely frank with her, which was all she wanted. She was a little frightened of him, but at the same time, and maybe for the same reasons, she somehow felt safer with him than with anyone.

If she was honest with herself, Lana was surprised he'd agreed to help her. She had to be his youngest, least experienced business partner. But she wasn't going to complain. She looked forward to learning from him.

"Glad you could make it. I'm sure your usual Saturday night plans are a little more exciting."

Lana turned to find Lex entering his study, carrying two mugs heaped with whipped cream and cocoa powder. He wore a long sleeved t-shirt and casual slacks, and she realized she might be a little overdressed.

"I had the kitchen staff whip us up some refreshments. Hope you don't mind."

She smiled, accepting the mug, though her stomach was still churning enough that she wasn't sure if she'd be able to drink it. "Thank you."

"Come have a seat." He sat on a leather couch beside the fireplace, and she sat down on the couch across from him, the coffee table between them. He set down his mug on a coaster, and she set hers down as well, along with her binder. "I see you've come prepared."

"You sound surprised."

A slight pause, then, "Not surprised, no."

She decided to let it go—he'd tell her soon enough if there was something on his mind. She opened the binder and took out the historic landmark forms from the front pocket. "I'm . . . having a hard time with the applications."

He took the packet, his eyebrows furrowing. "Oh. Don't worry about these, they're really for the owner. I can take care of them, if . . ."

"If what?"

He sighed, looking down at the table. "Well, there's no easy way to say this, Lana. The Talon's an old building. We're going to have to have inspections done, and if they turn up any problems—"

"Nell had a structural inspection done before she put the building on the market. It's actually in good shape." Lana was pretty sure Lex would have received a copy of the inspection, but Lana had seen the packet of documents Nell prepared when she put the Talon on the market—it was as thick as a textbook. He probably didn't remember.

He nodded slowly. "Okay. Well, that's good to hear, but the plumbing and electrical might be a different story."

Lana winced. "I hadn't thought about the plumbing. Whitney's friend's dad is an electrician, though."

"Willing to give a friends and family discount?"

"Even better. He owes Nell a favor. He was going through a rough time financially when his oldest daughter was getting married, and she did the flowers at no charge. She says I'm allowed to cash in the IOU for this."

He gave her a slight smile. "Well, that definitely helps. Do you happen to have an interior designer in your debt?"

"Um, no, but I've made some sketches." She opened the rings on the binder and pulled out her drawings, handing them to her. "I was thinking of an Egyptian theme. We could leave the pillars in place and just paint them with hieroglyphics. The cool thing about that color scheme is that it would mean we can shop around for overstock tables and chairs, they don't necessarily have to all match, we could just look for bargains. Maybe we could get a sphinx—"

"A _sphinx?_ "

Her heart sank. "Or—or not, I just thought it would . . . I thought it might look nice, but if you have other ideas—"

"It's not that, Lana. I'm just curious where you're thinking of finding that kind of decor. It sounds like a lot of custom ordering."

She could feel her voice shaking as she started to speak again. "A—a few years back, the, um, the theater class at Smallville High did this play about Cleopatra. They've been storing the set pieces, but I overheard some of the drama kids saying they were looking to get rid of them. We'll have to buy paint for the hieroglyphics, but I think they might actually still have the stencils."

He glanced from the sketch back to her. "Did the students make the set?"

"The tech theater class was supposed to, but I think the theater teacher did most of the work. It looks really professional."

Lex blinked. "There's a tech theater class at Smallville high? I thought this was a small town."

She shrugged. "It's actually a pretty big school. Nell says small towns sometimes have bigger high schools, because they only have one, while big cities have dozens."

"Huh. I don't suppose your teacher would be willing to help you with setting up the decorations."

Lana winced. "I don't really know her, I never took tech theater. But I have a few friends who did. They're willing to help set things up."

Lex took a moment to flip through her drawings, his forehead creased. "The ceilings in the Talon are pretty high, and some of the angles are awkward. You might not be able to do everything just by bringing in ladders. You're going to need to rent equipment."

"Oh." She hadn't thought about that, either. Her cheeks felt a little warm—every time she thought she was prepared, he brought up something else.

"But . . . you know what, I'll check with my staff about that. I might have some things you can use in storage. We bought a lot of the construction equipment when the mansion was built, we might have kept it."

"Oh! Great!"

"How about for the exterior?"

"That's the last page of the binder. I was actually thinking of leaving it as is. The marquee would be a nice way to advertise sales and events. I've already brainstormed the first few weeks' messages."

He raised his eyebrows. "Interesting." He put down the drawings. "Well, let's talk about kitchen equipment."

"Right. We're going to need a cappuccino machine, some dishwashers, and a couple of other things, but I was actually thinking of outsourcing most of the baking. It would help generate support for the cafe, if we're supporting local bakers, and that helps with getting the word out in a good way. Martha Kent said she'd give me a good rate on muffins and pies. Have you had Mrs. Kent's pie? It's amazing."

"Um, yeah, I have. And you're right." He half laughed. "You've really thought this through."

She grinned. "Now you definitely sound surprised."

"Ah, I guess I am." He gave a slight smile. "This is good work, Lana. I hadn't thought of . . . well, a lot of this."

"Well, you don't get thrifty by being rich." She immediately cringed after saying it. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean—"

"It's okay, Lana. You're right. In spite of the skills I've picked up all the years, this—" he picked up her binder— "is something I couldn't have done. I learned a lot today from you today."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She'd thought she would be learning from _him_.

"Let's take a little time to run some calculations. I want to help you set price points for your products. We can also start working on generating a job application for the baristas and assistant manager. I know Nell's going to run the interviews, but I think you should be present, and you may have to run interviews in the future, so I'd like to work with you on how to do that as well."

"That would be great." Her stomach settled a bit, and she took a sip of the hot chocolate. Her eyes widened. " _Wow_. That is amazing!"

"Oh. Thank you. It's my mother's recipe, I passed it on to my kitchen staff."

"Well, I hope you'll give her my compliments."

The immediate pain in his eyes was unmistakeable.

A weight settled onto her chest. "Lex . . . I'm sorry."

He looked away, his jaw tensing.

All at once it made sense to her why he had helped her. She'd thought he hadn't cared when she shared the story about her parents, but she couldn't have been more mistaken. He must have known exactly what she felt. "Well, it's a good recipe. I think we should serve it at the Talon."

His eyes met hers. "I would like that."

It had seemed to her that Lex could always see through her, but for a second, she felt like she could see through him. The Talon wouldn't just help keep her parents' memories alive; it would do the same for his mother's memory as well.

She'd heard Lex denounced as a villain and scorned as a child. She'd seen him lead as a businessman and, once, live as a hero. She'd hoped to learn from him as a mentor and to work alongside him as a partner. But right now, she saw him differently. He had suffered in the same way she had, and in the silence that followed, they shared the burden of that suffering together.

She realized he would be much more than a business partner. He was going to be her friend. And in that moment, she couldn't have felt luckier to have him.


	3. Opening Night

Chapter 3 - Opening night

Lana spent every evening and weekend for the following month working on planning and setup for the Talon. She practiced making drinks; she designed menus and brainstormed in-house advertisements; she spent hours at the mansion learning about business and leadership from Lex. In addition, she was able to pull together work parties on Saturdays. Most of her old friends from cheerleading stopped by to help out, and many of Whitney's friends helped as well. The nice thing about living in a small town was that there wasn't much else to do.

She could tell Lex was surprised by the number of people she'd been able to call in. The first time he came in during a work party, he looked downright startled. It was a good feeling.

The rest of the planning didn't go quite as smoothly.

There were serious problems with the plumbing, then an applicant for the assistant manager position told Lana she shouldn't get involved with Lex, then someone sent a gift wrapped package to the Talon, addressed to Lex, with a severed hand inside. Up to that point, he'd always seemed so cool and collected in every situation. But as Lana watched him panic and sweat and pace, she realized he was much more afraid than she was.

They had a conversation about delaying the grand opening. Lana kept telling him it was okay if they needed to, but Lex kept saying he didn't want to have to do that, and in the end they left it alone.

Lana spent hours getting ready for the opening. The decorations—both the usual ones, and the extras they'd put up for the party—looked even better than she'd dared to hope. The only thing that was missing was Lex himself. Five minutes after he was supposed to arrive, one of his security guards approached her.

"Miss Lang?"

She turned to face the suited man. "Yes?" She looked around. "Where's Lex?"

"Mr. Luthor had an encounter with someone from his past. He was kidnapped and tortured."

Her jaw dropped. She'd known something was going on with him—the severed hand should have alerted her that it was pretty serious, but even at that, finding out he'd been tortured came as a shock. "Is he okay?"

"He's been rescued and is currently safe. He asked me to let you know he'll be late to the event tonight."

"Okay, but how is he doing? Should he be here at all?"

The security guard looked down. "That's the whole message, Miss Lang."

He walked away from her after that, though he stationed himself near the front doors of the Talon. Lana swallowed hard. She did feel safer having him there, but she wondered if he should be at the mansion protecting Lex instead—what if the kidnappers came back?

She joined the rest of the kitchen staff in last-minute preparations—Lex had sent over extra employees from the mansion to help with the volume of orders they were expecting—and they only just managed to finish everything as the first guests began to arrive.

Lana couldn't believe how many of her friends came by for the party, but even more surprising was the number of other people they'd brought, people Lana didn't know but who had heard about what she was trying to do and come out to support her. By the time Clark came in and gave her a framed photo of the Talon as it was originally, her cheeks ached from smiling, but she didn't mind at all.

She was in the back room looking for extra coffee filters when there was a light tap on her shoulder. She whirled around to find Lex standing behind her.

"You're okay!" She threw her arms around him, and he stiffened. She pulled back. "Oh, I'm—I'm so sorry." Apparently he wasn't a hugger.

"It's okay, Lana." He gave her a very slight smile.

"Your security guard told me what happened. That sounds awful, are you hurt?" She chided herself. That was a stupid question. He'd been tortured.

He held out his hands. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me, Lana."

She winced—she was finding it difficult not to worry.

"Hey." He waited until she looked him in the eyes. "The Talon looks amazing. And so do you."

"You don't sound surprised this time."

He shrugged. "I'm not."

She grinned.

* * *

The day after the grand opening, Lex spent well over an hour on his laptop just looking over the numbers. Once again, they were worse than he had thought.

On the one hand, they'd generated more sales in one night than his most optimistic estimations. Word of mouth had done wonders, and the sheer number of friends Lana had never ceased to amaze Lex. Those friends had saved the Talon a lot of money as well, with their willingness to help with the setup for nothing but drink coupons.

But the plumbing issues had cost more than he'd expected. A _lot_ more, especially since they had to hire in a last-minute emergency contractor, after the first one tried to kill Lex. Both hours and materials for training extra employees for the opening night had also been more expensive than he'd remembered to account for. And there were hundreds of dollars worth of little one-time costs he hadn't known to factor into his calculations, just because he'd never tried to run a coffee shop before.

He hadn't expected to break even in a single night, but there was a pretty discouraging difference between where they thought they would be, and where they actually were. It wasn't an unrecoverable difference, but it would be more than enough to deflate Lana.

He didn't want to give her the bad news. He knew exactly how hard she had been working. She'd looked so radiant the night before, and it had filled him with a strong instinct to protect her, even though she insisted, and proved, she didn't need his protection. He remembered how worried she'd looked when he found her in the back room—his security guard had told her more than he was supposed to. He felt bad for stiffening when she tried to hug him. Her forearm had pressed hard into his bruised ribs, and he'd reacted to the pain rather than returning her embrace.

He sighed and steepled his fingertips. The extra cost from the plumber wasn't Lana's fault—it was his. He could just charge the Talon the fake contractor's original estimate, and shoulder the difference in cost between that and what they actually paid. In addition, much of the additional staffing had come from the mansion kitchens. Instead of charging the Talon their usual rate, Lex could just charge them the difference between what he actually paid them, and what he would have paid them if they'd remained at the mansion for the evening.

That would be a good start toward making the final numbers a little more palatable to Lana. He'd look over the little expenses as well, see if there were any he could omit from the spreadsheets that Lana wouldn't notice. He'd rather take the hit from his own pocket than disappoint her. Even after all of his edits, they wouldn't be turning a profit, but it would get them back on schedule and give Lana fighting chance.

Lana entered his study just as he was about to start editing the numbers. She'd finally stopped dressing formally to meet with him, and wore a purple t-shirt and jeans. He smiled, closed his laptop, and stood to meet her.

"Good news," he said.

She raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"We're ahead of schedule. I think we're going to be turning a profit sooner than we thought."

"Wow. I—I wasn't expecting that. I know there were a lot of extra expenses."

"There were a lot of sales last night, too. You worked hard, and it's paying off."

She beamed. "Well, can I see the numbers? I want to know how close we are."

"Ah, let me worry about that." If she looked now, it would be pretty obvious that he was lying, at least until he had time to edit his entries. "You just focus on your training with Nell, and I'll take care of the accounting."

Her eyes narrowed. "You said this was going to be a partnership."

"Of course, but—"

"I just want to see."

His breath caught in his throat. "Lana, I haven't even formatted the spreadsheet to be readable to anyone else—"

"Then why do you care if I look?" She walked around his desk to his laptop.

He placed his hand on it. "Why does it matter so much to you?"

"What are you hiding?"

"What makes you think I'm hiding something?"

She crossed her arms. "You always answer a question with a question if you can't give a straight answer without lying."

He sighed. She was almost right—he tended to answer a question with a question when he didn't think a straight answer would be believed, whether that answer was true or not. It wasn't worth arguing—in this case, he would have been lying.

He lifted his hand from his laptop, and she opened it. Her eyes flicked back and forth a few times in front of the screen, and she finally looked up at him, hurt and betrayal in her eyes. "You lied to me."

"No, I—"

"How can you say you didn't? I'm _looking_ at the numbers, Lex."

"I haven't finished inputting everything."

She stared at him for a moment. "Oh. Well, what do you still need to add?"

"I put in the full numbers for the contractor and the mansion employees that helped out last night. But some of that cost is mine, not the Talon's."

She looked down at the spreadsheet, then back up at him. "Okay, fine. But when I walked in, you told me we were _ahead_. You couldn't have known that."

He breathed in to say that he had done the calculations in his head, but she was already pretty upset with him for lying, and he didn't want her to ask him to rattle off numbers he didn't have. Somehow, he didn't think she'd be happy with the truth, either. The truth was that he'd been planning to tweak the books until they actually were ahead of schedule.

She sighed and leaned against the desk. "Remember when you first met with me about the Talon, and you shut me down for not giving you a business reason to renovate?"

He nodded, though he wasn't sure exactly where she was going with this.

"That's the Lex Luthor I signed up to work with. That's the person I _want_ as my business partner. I don't want you to protect me, I want us to make the Talon successful. And to do that, I need to know exactly how it's doing. Even if it's bad news."

He looked down at his hands. He'd thought he was done underestimating her. Apparently he was wrong.

And now, on top of running a type of business with which he had no experience at all, he was going to have to employ a tactic he never had before—complete, open honesty.

He didn't know if he could do that. But looking at her face, he realized he didn't have much of a choice.

"Okay. You're right, and I'm sorry. No more lies." He pulled up an extra chair to his desk, and she sat beside him in front of his laptop. "Let's walk through this together."


	4. Toxin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains direct quotes from 1x15, Nicodemus. I own nothing.

Lex made it a habit to spend an hour or two at the Talon every day. He wasn't used to working in a coffee shop, but he found he could understand the appeal—the smell of coffee was energizing, and the white noise of chatter and light music was surprisingly conducive to getting work done. He always bought a drink when he arrived, usually ordered a refill before he left, and snuck a tip in the jar whenever he could: most often, a twenty rolled up inside a one.

He tried to do his easiest, quietest work at the Talon, but this week, a pressing issue had forced him to take calls while he was there. Dr. Hamilton had taken liberties with one of his meteor rock projects, and he had ended up releasing some kind of toxin into the community.

Lex was still talking to Dr. Hamilton over the phone when Lana caught his eye. He had _never_ seen her dress like that. Knee high boots, a tight short skirt and thick makeup. He really didn't care what she wore on her own time, but they'd talked about how to communicate about appropriate work attire to employees; Lex assumed she knew that advice applied to her as well.

The waitress sounded distressed. "Lana, where have you been? Monique called in sick, and we haven't got anyone to cover."

Lex had trained Lana on how to deal with this kind of thing. He looked up and listened for her response.

To his astonishment, she replied, "Why is this my problem?"

"Because Nell's in Metropolis," the waitress said, "and you're the assistant manager."

"Well, I'm taking the afternoon off, so I guess we're closing early." Lana turned to the room full of customers. "Listen up! We're closing early, so coffee's on the house. Drink up."

Lex's mind raced. It hadn't been so long since his own rebellious teenage years, but that didn't mean he knew how to deal with hers. Maybe he should have known better than to get in business with someone so young that her hormones were still out of her control, but Lana had really seemed mature for her age. Apparently he was wrong.

Lex suddenly realized Hamilton was still talking, on the other end of the line. "I'll call back," he said, and hung up.

She sat at the counter, spraying whipped cream onto her fingers and licking it off. He approached her. "Lana, the Talon closes at nine."

She spun to face him, and rolled her eyes as she took her finger away from her mouth. "Not today."

"You're not impressing anyone with the attitude, Lana. You're talking to someone who set the bar for adolescent rebellion."

"That's right." She took a step closer. "I heard you were quite the bad boy before you joined us here in Smallville."

That stung a little. "It's nothing I'm proud of."

"Please. You don't really care about the Talon. You only invested because I asked you to.

Strictly speaking, that was true. But not in the way she seemed to be implying.

She brought a hand up to his chest. "Now why would you go and do a thing like that, hmm?" She put a finger to his lips, leaving whipped cream behind.

His heart raced, for a whole host of reasons. One was that he'd _never_ seen her act this way before, with anyone. Another was that if anyone saw what she was doing right now, he could probably be arrested. She was fifteen. But the most uncomfortable reason was that if he let himself slip, he was going to start feeling attracted to her. The thought made him sick to his stomach. Even if they'd been the same age, he could never do that to Clark. He'd already decided to treat Lana like he would a sister.

He licked away the whipped cream, trying hard to focus on getting out of this situation.

"The Luthors are famous for their ulterior motives. So tell me, Lex. Was it really about profit?"

He took her hand away from his chest. "I'm not sure what this is, but it isn't you, Lana. Are you feeling okay?"

"Actually—" she stepped around to his side, speaking directly into his ear and gently caressing his shoulder— "I'm a little nervous. I might need some guidance. You know, from someone with a little more . . . experience. What do you say, boss?"

 _No, no, no._ He was going to slip. He was going to lose sight of who he was talking to, because this girl didn't look or sound or act like Lana at all . . .

It hit him.

Lex whirled around to face her, taking her shoulders. "Lana, where have you been in the last twenty-four hours?"

Her expression darkened, and she shoved away his hands. "It's none of your business. What's your problem?"

He could have kicked himself. He should have recognized it right away. And he'd thought _she_ was dealing with hormones! "This isn't you."

"Why?" She shoved him. "Because I'm not doing exactly as I'm told? Because I'm not sitting in a corner hiding in a book? For once I'm not scared of life and no one can handle it, because you all prefer—" she shoved him much harder— "the insecure little girl."

He took several steps back, now nervous for completely new reasons.

"Well, I'm sick of her and all her talk about her dead parents." She grabbed a mug and swung.

He only just managed to duck in time. By the time he'd collected himself, Lana was already running out of the door with his car keys.

The Talon had actually been doing well. Genuinely ahead of schedule. He'd been open and honest with Lana, she'd worked hard. Sales were up. Unexpected expenses were down.

If she woke up from this—no, _when_ she woke up from this. He refused to consider the possibility that this would kill her. _When_ she woke up from this, she was going to think she ruined everything. But it had been him. He was the one who ordered the experiments that had released the toxin.

He _had_ to fix this.

* * *

Lana woke up in the hospital with no memory of how she'd gotten there.

Her doctor gave her a shortened explanation of the effects of the toxin that had infected her, and a nurse gave her back the clothes she'd been wearing when she came to the hospital. Her throat closed up for a moment when she saw them. If she'd been wearing that, she didn't even want to think about what she could have been doing.

Her first call was to Whitney. He was upset with her, but he wouldn't tell her why. When she explained the toxin, he finally told her that she broke up with him. She apologized all over herself, and he said he forgave her, but there was still a hint of anger in his voice, and she could hardly blame him for that.

Lana went over to the Talon to try to clear her mind, but all of the staff were cold to her there as well, and they wouldn't tell her what she'd done wrong, so she didn't stay long. Instead, she asked Nell to give her a ride to the mansion. Nell did, but she was uncharacteristically quiet on the drive. Lana didn't have the heart to ask what she'd said.

She was thankful when the guards didn't stop her at the front gate, and even more thankful when Lex closed his laptop and gave her a small smile as she walked into his study.

"Good," she said, laughing a little in relief. "Apparently you're the one person I didn't mess things up with."

His smile froze on his face, but he looked down at his desk.

"Oh no. What did I do?"

Lex slowly stood from the desk and came around to sit on the couch beside the fireplace.

Lana sat across from him. "Lex. What did I do?"

He lowered his head, folding his hands. "You were rude to one of your staff members, told her the short staffing wasn't your problem, then you announced to the customers that the Talon was closing early and that coffee was on the house."

Her eyes fell closed. They'd been doing so well, both in terms of employee relationships and finances.

"We'll work it out, Lana."

"The staff told you about . . . the things I said?" Most of the employees didn't know Lex well enough to try to form a complaint.

"No, I was there when it happened."

She winced. "Did I do anything to you?"

"It's no big deal."

" _Lex_."

He sighed. "You shoved me and tried to decapitate me with a mug."

"Why did I do that?"

He took a deep breath. "I promised I wouldn't lie to you, and I'll keep that promise. But just this once, can I tell you that you don't want to know, and leave it at that?"

She swallowed hard. "I don't want to know. But I think I need to."

"Okay. You were angry, because I rejected you."

Cold realization flooded through her. "I tried to . . . _oh_. Oh, no."

"Please don't make me give any more details."

She felt sick. "I didn't . . . kiss you, or . . ."

"No, no. You didn't get far."

Her cheeks burned so hot it was painful. "I—I can't tell you how sorry—"

"It wasn't you."

"Did you know it wasn't me?"

"Of course I knew."

Somehow, even in the face of overwhelming shame and embarrassment, that made her smile.

He leaned back against the desk. "You okay?"

She cringed. "I'm just really sorry."

Something shifted in his expression as his eyes met hers. "Oh, you should be. I don't know what you were thinking."

"What?"

A smile played with the corners of his eyes. "Thinking I'd be into you."

"I—"

"Your eyes are too far apart, your nose is all weird, and your ears are too small—"

Her voice caught. "Lex!"

"And you wear way too much pink. I mean, seriously, there are other—"

"This coming from the guy who wears nothing but black and purple." She held back her laughter.

"Oh, are we going there? You want to see my wardrobe?" Lex stood from the couch and took a couple of steps. "Come on, let's go. Then we'll take a look at yours."

She stood to follow him and punched him in the shoulder, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Wow, was that—" he laughed— "was that a punch? Okay, one of these days I'm going to teach you how to throw a hit, because that was just sad."

Lana punched him a little harder, erupting into laughter. When his own laughter settled down, he went to stand in front of his desk, leaning against the front edge.

She stood beside him, leaning on the desk as well. She lowered her voice a little. "The Talon staff is pretty upset with me."

He nodded. "I'll teach you how to give a formal apology, and I'll talk to them about the toxin. They'll forgive you by tomorrow, and things should be back to normal by next week. At the latest."

Lana let her breath out. "Thanks. And . . . you and I, we're okay?"

"You even have to ask?" Lex looked over at her, raising his eyebrows.

She grinned again. "Good."

After that, his facial expression shifted again, and it was back to business. But even as he trained and taught her diplomacy in the wake of the mess she'd created, she felt like something had grown and changed between them. Knowing he'd back her up and be on her side even when she made a ridiculous embarrassment of herself made her feel safer than ever.


	5. The Empty Shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Contains direct quotes from 1x18, Drone. I own nothing.
> 
> Second to last chapter of this story. Please do let me know your thoughts!

For the first few weeks after the Talon's grand opening, their problem was the expenses. Between Lex's run-in with his past from Club Zero, Lana's infection with the Nicodemus toxin, and their general inexperience with the coffee shop business, there had been a lot more than Lex could have accounted for. The amount Lana saved with her resourcefulness didn't begin to compare to the amount they lost. But between Lex's intervention and Lana's creativity, they'd held out.

Now they had a different problem. The customers had abruptly stopped.

Lex knew why. When the Talon first opened, it had novelty on its side. Once that novelty wore off, people returned to their old routines, which included the Beanery instead of the Talon. It probably didn't even have much to do with the quality of either shop. It was just human nature.

Lex could help with expenses. He could play with numbers to make them look the way he wanted, and even explain away his adjustments to Lana in a way that made her still feel ownership of the shop, without being dishonest with her. But there wasn't much he could do about the place being empty.

Clark even dropped by the mansion to complain about Lana's struggles, though Lex didn't engage in much discussion with him about it. Instead, he quickly changed the subject back to Clark's problems. If Clark noticed Lex's avoidance, he didn't say anything.

Lana was mostly kind about it, but Lex could tell she was frustrated with him for doing so little to help her. There were a lot of reasons for his silence. For one thing, this really was her battle to fight. Knowing that Lex believed the battle was hers would give her ownership and make the victory sweeter for her.

The bigger reason, though, was that he really was slammed with business at the plant. Getting it to turn a profit when it hadn't in years was as big a challenge as he had faced in his professional life, but at least it was a game he knew how to play.

* * *

Coupons did nothing. Price drops, nothing. Specials and sales, nothing. Advertisements at school—a tiny spike in sales among her friends, but no permanent change. Advertisements in the Ledger—not enough difference to make up the cost of the ad.

The Talon was empty. And Lex was silent. That was the hardest part. It was true that Lana wouldn't have wanted him to intervene and fix everything, but she hardly saw him at the Talon at all. The few customers that did come by also stopped tipping as much. She was starting to suspect that Lex, and only Lex, had been leaving ridiculously large tips. She couldn't exactly complain to him, either for having left the tips or for stopping, but she also felt a bit stupid for not noticing what he was doing earlier.

Lana was just opening the front doors of the Talon when she spotted a man waiting outside. She swallowed hard. She recognized him from her short time as a waitress at the Beanery.

"Hi, Mr. Johnson. Coming in?" She held the door open.

"Thanks, Lana." He stepped inside.

She headed toward the front counter, but he remained at the entrance, glancing around. "Interesting design choice. The colors are a bit garish. Are these theatrical set pieces?"

"Can I get you anything to drink?"

Mr. Johnson shot her a look.

"Of course not. Why are you here?"

"Idle curiosity, I suppose."

"Look." She took a few steps toward him. "I know we're competitors in this business, but we're the only two coffee shops in this town, and—"

"There was hardly enough business for one, as it was."

Her teeth clenched. "So you're making it your mission to run this place into the ground."

"It's not personal. Just business."

She crossed her arms. "The Talon is open to customers. Either order something or get out."

He shrugged and left the shop, and she did her best to focus on her work, reorganizing shelves and cleaning tables and countertops over and over when no one came in.

Whitney stopped by the Talon later in the day with some friends. He'd actually been among the most supportive people throughout the Talon's more difficult times. Clark also came by in the late afternoon, and they talked about his campaign for class president.

Lana was just offering to help Clark with his campaign speech when Lex entered. It was all she could do not to scowl.

"Glad to see business is booming."

She stared at him. She'd _asked_ him to be the brutally honest businessman she had signed on to work with; she shouldn't be expecting him to coddle her. She didn't _want_ him to coddle her. But he didn't have to _mock_ her! "It's hard when even your regular customers blow you off."

"I haven't been blowing you off, Lana. I've had my eye on the situation."

"Waiting for me to fail." That was more honest than she meant to be, but the words slipped out.

"Most new ventures don't make it." His tone was gentle, but it didn't do much to soften the flippancy of his words. "You have to prepare yourself for that possibility."

"I thought you didn't like to lose," Clark cut in.

"I don't. But it's not my fight. As an investor, you have to know when you cut your losses."

Lana seethed. They'd worked so hard—both of them. "So what do you suggest I do?"

"The Beanery has declared war. If you want to hold only this place, you need to get creative, be willing to get your hands dirty."

She gave him a look.

"Don't worry, I'm not suggesting anything illegal," he said. "To quote _The Godfather_ , it's time to go to the mattresses."

She couldn't help it—she rolled her eyes. "That movie should be banned from basic cable."

Lana retreated to the back room. Her eyes stung. Why had she ever thought she knew what she was doing? She couldn't head up a business. She was going to lose her grip on this place.

A light knock on the door. "Lana?"

That was Lex's voice. She frantically wiped away her tears and turned to face him. She'd wanted so badly to be strong—the kind of person Lex could be proud to call his business partner, someone he could be open with. But she wasn't that person. She didn't want him to cushion the blows or censor himself, but his words had hurt. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For failing."

"You haven't failed yet."

"I haven't succeeded, either."

He gave her a hint of a smile. "You're fifteen."

"So?"

"So don't beat yourself up. I told you from the start that this was going to be difficult."

She laughed without smiling. "And when you were fifteen?"

His expression darkened. "That's not worth comparing."

"Why not?"

"You don't want to be who I was when I was fifteen."

"You were stronger than I am."

"Yes. But that's not the kind of strength I'd wish on anyone."

She sighed and sniffed. "I don't think I can do this, Lex."

"What are you saying?"

Her cheeks felt hot. "I guess it's silly for me to ask for your permission to fail."

He looked down at his hands, then back up at her. "You don't want my permission to fail. You want my permission to stop trying."

"I don't know what to do, Lex. I've tried everything."

His eyes pierced hers. "No."

"No, what?"

"No, you don't have my permission to stop trying."

"I don't need your permission—"

"I didn't say you needed it." He took a step toward her. "I said you wanted it. And you don't have it."

"Then what do I do?"

"You keep doing what you've been doing. You map out the challenge, you make a plan, and you don't back down."

Lana let her breath out. "What do you think my chances are?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said most new businesses fail. What are my chances?"

He raised his eyebrows. "If you give up, or if you don't?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. "Assume I keep trying."

"And apply all the work and effort and creativity you were gushing with during the first couple of months?"

"Yeah, that."

There was no smile in his face or voice. "One hundred percent."

She blinked. "I—"

"Lana." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't have kept this investment for this long if it were any other way."

"Okay." She nodded subtly, then more emphatically. "Okay."

"Meeting at our usual time this weekend?"

"Yeah."

He gave a very slight smile, and left the Talon.


	6. Going to the Mattresses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! It's been a fun and somewhat fluffy ride—I guess it ended up being mostly a "behind-the-scenes" type look at canon events, but I enjoyed the exploration, and I hope you did as well. If you've gotten this far, thanks for sticking with it! I hope you'll leave me your thoughts in the comments.

Lex hadn't wanted to say it to Lana, but she was right. She'd tried just about everything she could. He was counting on her to think of something out of the box to save the Talon.

Expressing total confidence in her had been a calculated risk. It wasn't a lie, exactly. If he had told her he didn't trust her, he knew she'd be less likely to apply herself, and then he'd actually have a reason to worry. She worked best when she knew she was being supported.

That didn't mean he couldn't help her. Maybe if her tactics didn't work, he could use his own.

Against his better judgement, Lex redirected one of his private investigators, who he usually had looking after his father, to the Beanery. As far as he knew, the Beanery was the only reason the Talon had started to fail. There had to be something they were doing wrong, some fatal flaw.

And there was. The investigator brought back news of so many code violations, Lex was shocked they hadn't already been discovered. It was far, far more than enough to get the Beanery shut down. It also made Lex thankful he himself had decided to play things by the book.

Lex had halfway dialed the phone number of the local health department when he stopped himself. Lana had done so much of this herself already. He could let her pull the trigger on the last piece.

He called back his investigator instead, setting up a plan to leak the information to one of the other waitresses at the Talon. The news would reach Lana, but she'd never be able to trace it back to Lex. If she suspected and asked him directly, he'd tell her the truth about his involvement, but if she didn't ask, he could leave this one alone, and she could take the credit for saving the Talon. She deserved it, after all.

* * *

Lana's throat was choked up as she closed up the Talon for the evening. It was a record low sales day for them, and she was going to have to tell Lex. As of the day before, she'd estimated they had a month before they were driven to close, but a few more days like today could destroy them much sooner.

Another waitress, Amanda, had volunteered to stick around and help Lana with cleanup for the day. It seemed silly, since there was so little to do, but Lana appreciated the company, and Amanda was always encouraging.

"Maybe Smallville just isn't into coffee," Amanda said.

"The Beanery seems to be doing well," Lana muttered, wiping down a table that hadn't been used.

"Hm."

Something about the look on Amanda's face made Lana pause. "What?"

"I'm surprised they're still doing well, considering all the health code violations."

Lana blinked. "Health code violations?"

"Yeah, haven't you heard about that?"

"No." Lana squinted. "Where did you hear about it?"

"I . . ." Amanda scratched the back of her head. "You know what, I'm not sure. I think I overheard a customer talking about it. They were talking like it was common knowledge."

Lana continued cleaning, not daring to hope that it might be true. She figured if it was, she'd find out soon enough. There was nothing she could do about it.

That night, Lana lay awake tossing and turning. She kept thinking about the things Lex had told her about being creative and trying to think out of the box, in order to keep the Talon. Maybe this was exactly the break she needed.

She got up and called Chloe's cell number. Chloe would still be up. She was always up.

"Lana?" Sure enough, Chloe's voice sounded as alert as ever.

"Hey, Chloe, do you still have that investigative reporter friend?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I need a favor."

* * *

Lex walked into the heavily decorated Talon the evening after Smallville High's student body president elections. Clark had lost, but he seemed to be doing okay. Lana was glowing. There were so many people crammed into the Talon, it had taken Lex a couple of minutes to find her.

"Nice crowd," he said.

She smiled even more brightly. "I think we'll be having more nights like this."

"How can you be so sure?" That might have been harsh wording, but it would keep her from suspecting that he knew what was really going on.

"Let's just say I went to the mattresses. Check out page 3 of the Ledger tomorrow."

She'd played hard. He'd been planning on calling the health department; she'd called the _press._ "Can you give me a preview?"

"Apparently, our rival coffeehouse has had several health department violations they've been trying to cover up."

"How'd you hear about that?"

"Amanda told me. So Chloe had her reporter friend look into it, and sure enough, it's true."

She didn't suspect a thing. "Very creative. I'm impressed."

Lana went back to work after that, and Lex watched her from a distance. He couldn't have been prouder.

* * *

Lana's cheeks hurt from smiling by the end of the night. Several staff members stayed behind to clean up the mess. This time, even Lex stayed to help out for a bit. He was still there even after everyone else had gone.

"Need a ride home?" he asked.

Lana shook her head. "Nell's on her way. Thanks, though."

"I brought something for you." He took a folded page out of his inner jacket pocket and handed it to her.

"What's this?" She unfolded skimmed the page, then her eyes started back up at the top, reading more thoroughly. He'd tried to teach her how to read these types of spreadsheets, but it was difficult. "These look like . . . projections?"

"It's a realistic estimate of where we'll be over the next few months."

"It looks a lot better than your last estimates."

"It's amazing what having no competitors can do for business."

She looked down at the printed spreadsheets, then back up at him. Realization flooded through her. "Wait. You must have had these with you when you got here."

"I did."

"How did you know to print these out before coming? You couldn't have known we were going to be without competitors."

His cheeks turned pink. "Ah, about that . . ."

"Lex, I thought you were going to be honest with me."

"And I will. I'll tell you everything, if you want to know."

He breathed in to say more, but she shrugged. "Does it matter?"

His eyebrows raised.

"We solved this together. As a team."

He nodded. "Let's talk more at our next meeting. I'm willing to tell you more about what happened on my end, and I'd like to hear more about how you managed to get the press involved, but it's a bit late, and I'm sure you're exhausted."

She laughed a little. "So how soon can we set up a movie projector?"

"Get a movie night on the calendar. You can expect a delivery tomorrow."

" _Really?_ "

He grinned.

"Thank you, _thank you!_ " She lifted her arms to throw around him, then stepped back at the last minute. "Sorry, I forgot, you're not a hugger."

"Oh, come here." He held out his arms. She jumped into them, and he spun her in the air before setting her down and letting go.

Lana expected she would be bursting with stories as soon as Nell arrived, and that she would talk her aunt's ear off all the way home. But in the end, she was too full-hearted and content-and, truly, exhausted-to speak much during the ride back to the house. She was quiet, smiling softly out of the window, feeling ready to face whatever came next.

_The End_


End file.
